ACADEMY 73 derably augmented by the collections made by Pallas, Gmelin, Guldenstaedt, and other professors, during their expeditions through the various parts of the Russian em pire. The stuffed animals and birds occupy one apartment. The chamber of rarities, the cabinet of coins, &c., contain innumerable articles of the highest curiosity and value. The motto of the society is exceedingly modest; it consists of only one word, Paulatim. Swedeti. The Academy of Sciences at Stockholm, or the Royal Swedish Academy, owes its institution to six persons of distinguished learning, among whom was the celebrated Linnceus. They originally met on the 2d of June 1739, when they formed a private society, in which some dis sertations were read ; and in the end of the same year their first publication made its appearance. As the meet ings continued and the members increased, the society attracted the notice of the king; and, accordingly, on the 31st of March 1741, it was incorporated under the name of the Iloyal Swedish Academy. Not receiving any pen sion from the crown, it is merely under the protection of the king, being directed, like our Royal Society, by its own members. It has now, however, a large fund, which has chiefly arisen from legacies and other donations ; but a pro fessor of experimental philosophy, and two secretaries, are still the only persons who receive any salaries. Each of the members resident at Stockholm becomes president by rotation, and continues in office during three months. There are two kinds of members, native and foreign; the election of the former take places in April, that of the latter in July; and no money is paid at the time of admission. The dissertations read at each meeting are collected arid published four times in the year : they are written in the Swedish language, and printed in octavo, and the annual publications make a volume. The first 40 volumes, which were completed in 1779, are called the Old Transactions. Denmark. The Royal Academy of Sciences at Copen hagen owes its instunition to the zeal of six individuals, whom Christian VI., in 1742, ordered to arrange his cabinet of medals. These persons were John Gram, Joachim Fre deric Ramus, Christian Louis Scheid, Mark Woldickey, Eric Pontopidan, and Bernard Moelman, who, occasionally meeting for this purpose, extended their designs; associated with them others who were eminent in several branches of science ; and forming a kind of literary society, employed themselves in searching into, and explaining the history and antiquities of their country. The Count of Holstein, the first president, warmly patronised this society, and recom mended it so strongly to Christian VI. that, in 1743, his Danish majesty took it under his protection, called it the Royal Academy of Sciences, endowed it with a fund, and ordered the members to join to their former pursuits natural history, physics, and mathematics. In consequence of the royal favour the members engaged with fresh zeal in their pursuits ; and the academy has published 15 volumes in the Danish language, some of which have been translated into Latin. England. In 1616 a scheme for founding a Royal Academy was started by Edmund Bolton, an eminent scholar and antiquary. Bolton, in his petition to King James, which was supported by George Villiers, Marquis of Buckingham, proposed that the title of the academy should be " King James, his Academe or College of honour." In the list of members occurs the name of Sir Kenelm Digby, one of the original members of the Royal Society. The death of the king proved fatal to the undertaking. In 1635 a second attempt was made to found an academy, under the patronage of Charles I., with the title of Minerva s Musseum," for the instruction of young noble men in the liberal arts and sciences, but the project was Boon dropped. About 1645 some of the more ardent followers of Bacon used to meet, some in London, some at Oxford, for the discussion of subjects connected with experimental science. This was the origin of the Royal Society, which received its charter in 1662. See ROYAL SOCIETY. Ireland. The Royal Irish Academy arose out of a society established at Dublin about the year 1782, and consisting of a number of gentlemen, most of whom belonged to the university. They held weekly meetings, and read essays in turn on various subjects. The members, of this society afterwards formed a more extensive plan, and, admitting only such names as might add dignity to their new institution, became the founders of the Royal Irish Academy. They professed to unite the advancement of science with the history of mankind and polite literature. The first volume of their transactions (for 1787) appeared in 1788, and seven volumes were afterwards published. A society was formed in Dublin, similar to the Royal Society in London, as early as the year 1683; but the distracted state of the country proved unpropitious to the cultivation of philosophy and literature. Holland. The Royal Academy of Sciences at Amsterdam, erected by a royal ordinance 1852, succeeded the Royal Institute of the Low Countries, founded by Louis Napoleon, King of Holland, 1808. In 1855 it had published 192 volumes of proceedings, and received an annual subsidy of 14,000 florins from the state. Spain. The Academy of Sciences at Madrid, founded 1774, after the model of the French Academy. Portugal. The Academy of Sciences at Lisbon is divided into three classes natural history, mathematics, and national literature. It consists of 24 ordinary and 36 extraordinary members. Since 1779 it has published Memorias de Letteratura Portugueza; Memorias Economical; Collec^ao de Livros ineditos di Historia Portugueza. II. ACADEMIES OF BELLES LETTEES. Italy. Italy in the 16th century was remarkable for the number of its literary academies. Tiraboschi, in his History of Italian Literature^ has given a list of 171 ; and Jarkius, in his Specimen Historic Academiarum Conditarum, enumerates nearly 700. Many of these, with a sort of Socratic irony, gave themselves names expressive of ignorance or simply ludi crous. Such were the Lunatici of Naples, the Estravaganti, the Fulminates, the Trapessati, the Droivsy, the Sleepers, the Anxious, the Confused, the Unstable, the Fantastic, the Transformed, the JEtherial. " The first academies of Italy chiefly directed their attention to classical literature ; they compared manuscripts; they suggested new readings, or new interpretations; they deciphered inscriptions or coins; they sat in judgment on a Latin ode, or debated the pro priety of a phrase. Their own poetry had, perhaps, never been neglected ; but it was not till the writings of Bembo furnished a new code of criticism in the Italian language, that they began to study it with the same minuteness as modern Latin." " They were encouragers of a numis matic and lapidary erudition, elegant in itself, and throw ing for ever little specks of light on the still ocean of the past, but not very favourable to comprehensive observation, and tending to bestow on an unprofitable pedantry the honours of real learning." 1 The Italian nobility, excluded as they mostly were from politics, and living in cities, found in literature a consolation and a career. Such academies were oligarchical in their constitution ; they encouraged culture, but tended to hamper genius and extinguish originality. Of their academies, by far the most celebrated was the Accademia della Crusca or Fur- furatorum; that is, of Bran, or of the Sifted. The title was borrowed from a previous society at Perugia, the Accademia degli Scossi, of the Well-shaken. Its device 1 Hallam s Tnt. to Lit. of Europe, vol. i. 654, and vol. il. 502.
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